The first library in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, called the Village Library Association, was organized in 1871. It occupied several locations until it found a permanent home. Construction began in 1915, with money left to the town by a generous benefactor, and funds raised through the efforts of the South Deerfield Women’s Club. On November 14, 1916, the Tilton Library was dedicated in memory of Chauncey B. Tilton, whose estate had provided much of the funding for the building’s construction, and the land on which it was erected.